Carmel
Budiardjo is a British human rights activist who has been advocating for human
rights in Indonesia, East Timor and West Papua for the past 25 years. After marrying
an Indonesian government official and moving to Indonesia in 1951, Carmel Budiardjo's
life was turned upside down in the 1960s when President Suharto seized power.
Her husband was arrested and spent 12 years as a political prisoner, and she herself
spent 3 years in detention, without a trial, before she was forced to leave Indonesia
in 1971. In 1973, she and other activists in London founded TAPOL (Indonesian
for 'political prisoner') and have been advocating against human rights abuses
by the Indonesian government since. TAPOL has brought these abuses to the international
community's attention by appealing to the United Nations and to governments who
supply the Indonesian government with weapons, and through the publication of
a regular newsletter, numerous reports and several books. In 1995, Carmel Budiardjo
received the Right Livelihood Award (often referred to as the Alternative Nobel
Prize) “...for holding
the Indonesian government accountable for its actions and upholding the universality
of fundamental human rights.”
